The Thrill of Hearing the Unheard
Ready for a new fantasy adventure? Ugh you say? Yet another? We understand. Pathetic films like The Golden Compass seem to have killed
off any excitement we used to have when we paid bucks to watch a movie that would mystify us, then scare and thrill us to death, ultimately filling
us with that pure magic only a great Hollywood movie could provide. The good news is ol' Compass won't be remembered by many, and so close on its heels is a new warning: "BEWARE." Hobgoblins, ogres, trolls, griffins are gritty and gooey... hardly sanitized and welcome this way! Here's a movie that sticks to a compelling, well-paced story that begins with a broken family moving in to Spiderwick, a creepy old house once owned by an eccentric relative. We're drawn in quite easily and immediately to so many new worlds as a young boy named Jared discovers a field guide to all that is unseen in and around the house.
The Spiderwick Chronicles soundtrack CD (Lakeshore Records) is the relic we get to take home with us;
it's our field guide to rekindle the thrilling, frightening and delicate moments we shared while watching the chronicles unfold. Composer James Horner's music post-Titanic success brought forth a drought of creativity from the once-great scorer responsible for very impressive movie music
like his soundtracks for Braveheart, Willow and Glory. This infertile time has had us looking down on nearly every new Horner score for many years, but with Spiderwick all this has changed. In fact, not only is this the best thing we've heard from Horner in a while, it's the best fantasy adventure score we've heard from anyone in a while. There's a midsection lasting barely 10 minutes on the CD (tracks 6 through 8), yet captures so much of what's been missing in film music lately... powerful storytelling through music that does enhance our wonder! We're tired of the ol' automated scoring systems that aim to plant uninteresting filler music just about everywhere, and we have James Horner to thank for not letting us give up on original scores entirely. Thanks Jamie! More, please?
PK (2/15/2008)see all reviews, or add a review
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